OWCA Academy - The Field Test
by Eris Perap
Summary: The Agency has sent away the young agents in the wild to test their skills in field work. Will Perry and his friends managed to get through the dangerous areas and solve all the obstacles with their lives still in behold? This is a sequel to "O.W.C.A. Academy", but you don't necessarily have to have read it to keep up with this story.
1. The First Obstacle

_O.W.C.A.'s Field Test:_

_The purpose of this test is to give the agents the opportunity to demonstrate skill, strength, intelligence and cooperation in various conditions. This by together __in a group of five __trying to solve various tasks._

_The teams must together by themselves get to the set positions where they will encounter a special box that contains instructions for the next station. The way to each station is lined with different obstacles and quests. The boxes can only be opened if the agents manage to solve the task. There is a total of five stations for each team._

_Everyone in the group will, right before the test starts, be provided with a special kind of bracelet, anklet or similar, depending on the wearer's exterior, that contains a unique code. To open each one of the five boxes all five codes be registered at the same time._

_Good luck on the test agents!_

* * *

**1. The First Obstacle**

"Did we _have to_ choose to go this way?" Pinky questioned annoyed while we splashing waded our way through the scrubby swamp. It was times like these that I wished I had longer legs. The others could at least lift their feet above the muddy water surface, while I, however, almost had to swim to move forwards.

"This is the shortest way", Darren, who was carrying the map, reminded right in front of me. "We _do_ want to get there as quick as possible, right?"

"Um, if I remember correct it did not say anything in the description about this test being clocked", Terry said a few feet behind me.

"Well… no, but it doesn't hurt to try to hurry up a little", the mallard thought and held a protruding branch out of the way with one wing in front of him. I had expected that he would hold it there for a while until I had passed by, but without taking a look back he immediately let it go instead.

The leafy twigs came whizzing towards me at great speed and I instinctively ducked to avoid them.

"OUCH!" I heard someone scream right behind me and when I turned around I saw Peter bothered scratching his face with his dirty frame, giving him a mud-mustache.

"URGH!" he groaned and frowned angrily at me.

"Sorry!" I apologized.

"Okay, I've _had_ _it!_ We haven't even got to the filst station and I alleady have sclatches and mud all ovel me!" he exclaimed displeased. "Whose _stupid_ idea was is to let _the duck_ be in chalge of the map?"

"Well, _excuse me_, mister", Darren said indignant and turned to the panda. "I can _assure_ you that this thing is _completely_ safe in my wings."

"Uh, a little help over here, please?" Terry suddenly asked a bit embarrassed and when I turned around I saw that he was struggling to pull out one of his hind legs that apparently had been stuck in the mud.

Pinky and I immediately waded over to give him a hand. We grabbed each one of the turtle's front feet and pulled hard. After struggling a bit, the mud finally let go of him and a light 'flop' was heard when the foot was released.

"How can you be so sule?" Peter questioned Darren. "How do we know that you'le not leading us in the wlong dilection?"

"Easy! I'm a migration bird", the wild drake explained proudly. "I can sense the Earth's magnetic field so I always know where north is."

"Oh, yeah! That is true!" Terry exclaimed suddenly remembering. "But I am sure that you have remembered to take the inclination in count."

"The what?" Darren said puzzled.

"You are aware of that the geographic and the magnetic poles are not placed at the same location? The magnetic north pole, which actually is a south pole for that matter, is located in north Canada and not by the rotation axis like the geographic one is", the turtle informed. "That results in a misleading inclination that varies depending where in the world you stand. In this area the inclination is at 69.13 degrees, with a negative declination on 3.71. That means "north" in this case actually rather is pointing towards northwest."

Darren stared speechless at Terry. Next to me, I heard Peter gleefully let out a quiet laughter.

The duck suddenly looked down on the ground to the side and sighed. Then he sourly pressed the map against the turtle's plastron. Terry took the paper, a bit surprised.

"Alright, the truth is that I never actually had got the time to migrate since I've had to much schoolwork to do", Darren muttered a bit grumpy.

"Hehehe, yeah, light", Peter said quiet.

Terry took a compass out of his hat and geared the map to it.

"Don't feel down Darren. I didn't know about this incalnation-thing either", Pinky comforted and patted the duck on his wing shoulder.

I took a look at the map over the turtle's shoulder.

"Okay… We're here, right…?" I assumed, pointing at a specific location on the map.

"No, here!" Terry corrected and pointed a little to the right of my finger. "The end of the lake is over there."

Terry did a referential nod diagonally across the reedy lake a few feet away to the right of us between the shrubberies.

"If we go this way we should manage to get to this small trail that we then can follow until we get here", the tortoise assumed, and followed with his finger along the thin path on the map a bit ahead of us.

"Alright, let's move then!"

The road got much easier once we managed to get out of the swampy marsh and after a while we finally arrived at the big meadow, which was our first stop. Far away in the middle of the green grassy area a single large oak grew. Among the branches dangled a small red-and-silver colored item, which was noticeably seen against the tree-crown's dark contrast. That must be the first box.

"Well, _this_ doesn't look suspicious _at all_", I said ironic, referring to the large open space between us and the tree.

"Whatcha think lies here?" Pinky wondered.

"Oh, that is easy to find out", Terry said confident and picked up a stone from the ground and threw it towards the tree.

We all followed the stone intently when it flew through the air and eventually landed hidden in the grass. I expected some kind of hungry attack from firing lasers, arrows or something similar to pounce on the stone, but to everybody's great surprise absolutely nothing happened.

"… or maybe not", Terry said broody.

"I think we need something biggel", Peter thought.

"Or… at least something more _powerfull_", I said thoughtfully.

I took off my hat and started scavenging inside it. In one out of the trays I picked up a small hand grenade.

"Woah, be careful with that thing!" Pinky said and recoiled a little.

"Yeah, we don't have unlimited with ammunition on us", Darren reminded.

"Uh, I don't think that's what he really… Oh, whatever! This is only a warning grenade, it's meant for these kinds of situations", I explained. "We _need_ to know what's out here."

I pulled out the sprinter and then quickly threw away the grenade over the field. It landed a little further away than Terry's stone where it quietly exploded in a small cloud of dust (it was after all only a small grenade). The ground underneath suddenly gave way under the blast and a big hole, about two meters in diameter, was revealed.

"Pitfall traps", I noted short.

"That's _all?_ Pft! Piece of cake!" Pinky said easy and confidently lifted his foot to walk over the field.

"Uh… Maybe we shouldn't be _too_ easy on things here", Terry said suspicious and grabbed the chihuahua by the shoulder to stop him.

"Well, at least it doesn't seem to be any kind of aerial barrages", Darren said calmly. "Heh, lucky for me."

"Gleat! Then why don't _you_ just fly us all ovel thele?" Peter snapped.

"Hey, do I look like Superman?" Darren asked a bit annoyed. "You really think I can fly all the way over there while carrying your big butt?"

"Why you…!"

"But what you _could_ do is going ahead and activate them for us", I pointed out tentatively. "After all, they are no threats towards _you_."

"Um, I wouldn't be so…"

"Yeah, exactly!" Peter exclaimed, interrupting the turtle. "Then we finally can get some use out of your part in the team."

Darren glanced huffish at the panda.

"Since it's actually a very good plan and probably the best solution we've got here I am willing to comply with it", the mallards admitted a bit annoyed. "Alright everybody, after me! Forwaaaard, march!"

With that said, the waterfowl began marching out over the field. We gave him a slight head start before we others followed after.

We actually managed to walk several feet without anything happening. Darren carefully placed down his webbed feet on the grassy ground for each slow step he took.

"Everything seems fine here!" he called at us behind him.

We continued forward towards the tree and the hanging box.

Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat when I felt the ground beneath my feet give way. The image of the clear blue sky disappeared from my retina, and was replaced by a dark wall of earth. Instinctively I turned around and buried my front claws into the mud. Four long notches were carved down the wall on each side of me, right where my fingers cut, as I went downwards. I swore in my mind in pain as I felt one of my claws broke. Something suddenly grabbed a hold of my back and in the corner of my eye I saw something beige-pink wave a little. That must have been Pinky.

While I desperate continued pushing my claws into the wall, I noticed that we were slowing down and finally we stopped completely. I tried to get a reasonably good footing by forcing my hind feet into the wall as well. Once I'd managed to find a sort of rigid position to rest on, I glanced over the shoulder to see how it looked like underneath. Besides Pinky's shocked expression, I saw that we still had about two meters down to the bottom that was almost entirely covered with thick vines with sharp thorns.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT DOWN THERE?" I heard someone, probably Darren, calling.

I turned my head upwards and saw the dark silhouettes of three heads looking down the pit, partly blocking the sunlight.

"YES, WE'RE FINE!" I shouted back to them.

"DON'T WOLLY! WE'LE SENDING DOWN A LOPE!" Peter cried.

To the left of him, I noticed that Terry was already in the process of hauling down one end of a rope to us. We saw the thin string coming closer towards us. When it was just a couple of inches above me I carefully let go of the wall and grabbed on to it. I pulled it down a bit further and handed the end to Pinky before clutching on more properly myself.

"WE GOT IT!" I told.

"GREAT, WE WILL PULL YOU OUT NOW!" Terry called.

I felt the rope beginning to haul in so I leaned back and slowly began walking up along the wall. When we were almost there, I grasped on to the edge and pulled myself up on the grass. In the corner of my eye, I saw Peter giving Pinky a hand to help him getting out of the pit as well.

"Man! That was scary", Darren said.

"Yeah…", I uttered and dusted of the earth from my fur. I turned around and looked straight down the dark deep pit at the vines. "These traps are dangerous."

"You wele supposed to waln us about these!" Peter suddenly burst out angrily at Darren.

"Hey, it's not _my fault_ that I'm not as heavy as you are", Darren said in defense.

"No, but you could've at least had stomped a little haldel", Peter said a bit snappish, "instead of just tippy-toeing that wimpy as you did."

Peter made a small imitation of Darren's tripping gait on the spot.

"Do it _yourself_ if you think it's so easy!" Darren snapped at him.

"Hey, you…"

"Ay caramba! I'VE HAD IT!" Pinky suddenly exclaimed and without warning he quickly ran right across the field towards the tree. I lost my breath for a moment when I watch the scurrying little dog suddenly falling right down into yet another trap, but before the ground around him had managed to collapse completely, he made a great leap and jumped back up on solid ground again.

He didn't stop running because of that but kept going. He stepped on two other traps, both of which he smoothly bailed out of like the first one, until he got to the big oak.

"THERE! NOW YOU'VE GOT YOUR PATH TO FOLLOW! CAN YOU, _PLEASE_, STOP FIGHTING NOW!?" he shouted towards us.

I glanced at the other three and saw that they were all staring at the chihuahua with identically amazed expressions and open jaws.

"Uuuuhhhh… yeah… we-WE'RE COMING!" Darren shouted back, still quite nonplussed.

We zigzagged our way between the open pitfalls in the ground and got to the big oak with the box hanging on a string in the tree crown. Pinky had already taken the time to climb up to it.

Getting a closer look, we saw that the box actually looked more like an angular capsule. It was about the same size as Pinky's head and seemed to consist of some kind of metal. One half was red while the other half was silver-colored. A diagonal line separated the colors on two of the long sides.

I grabbed one of branches at the bottom of the tree and started climbing. The others followed my example, except Darren who flew right up, and soon we had reunited with the chihuahua. We all settled down on the branches around the capsule that Pinky already had gotten the hold on. I was sitting on the branch a bit above to the left of my teammates.

"Okay, how does this thing work?" Terry, who was sitting right to the left of the puppy on the same branch, wondered.

"I'm not sure, but I think we're supposed to place our wristbands above this tape", Pinky assumed and showed the shiny black tape that stretched all across the whole silver part of the capsule's long side.

"Well, it's wolth a tly", Peter, who was standing on the branch underneath them with his head right in front of the box, said and placed his light blue ankle strap across the middle of the strip. Terry and Pinky followed his example and put their straps on each side of the panda's paw.

"Um...", Darren, who was standing right to the left of Terry, uttered pensive before he gently placed on of his wings on the turtle's shoulder to maintain his balance so that he, a bit awkwardly, could stretch out one his webbed feet and place his ankle over one if the ends of strip. He was the only one among us to have his wristband around the ankle rather than the wrist.

Since I sat a bit above them, I first grabbed with my right hand around a pretty thin crotch in front of me and then stretched out my left hand towards the other end of the strip.

We waited a few seconds before a light 'click' was heard from the capsule and the diagonal jack between the red and the silver part opened up a little.

"It opened!" Darren exclaimed, as if nobody noticed.

"Man, you _sure_ are observant", I said ironic.

Pinky grabbed the slot and pulled in both directions. Inside the capsule's smooth roundish interior laid a scroll, which Terry immediately took out. He rolled it up and studied it on it for a while. It showed a map of the route to our next station.

"So, whele ale we heading next?" Peter asked insistently.

Terry took out the compass again and geared the map to it. Darren curiously took a look at it over the turtle's shoulder.

"That way, right?" the duck assumed and pointed across the field behind us there no traps had been unveiled, yet.

"Yes, I believe that is so", Terry confirmed and nodded without lifting his head.

"Bueno! Okay, let's go!" Pinky said eagerly and let go of the box, which he already had closed, and let it dangle in the string again.

"Are we going to go back the same way as we came from and then go around or should we take the chance on crossing the field, you think?" Darren asked.

"Let me take a look", Peter asked, holding out a paw towards the turtle. "How long does it take to go alound?"

Terry handed the map to the panda, who immediately began to look through it.

"It might take a while. It is a pretty big detour", Terry presumed.

"Mah, I can just run across for you again", Pinky offered and waved unconcerned. "It was actually much easier than I had anticipated. Besides, I _am_ the faster among us."

"Ahrm!" Darren cleared his throat to rectify.

"_On land_ I meant", Pinky pointed out and rolled his eyes.

"I do not think that is a very good idea", Terry said, and looked suspiciously at the grass behind us. "There might be other kinds of traps in the area."

"But we _would_ save a whole lot of time if we went _that _way… Whoops!" Peter said and pointed in that direction with the paw he was holding the map in, resulting in that he dropped the paper.

The map got captured by a gust of wind that blew it away across the open area.

In the corner of my eye I suddenly noticed Pinky's ears straighten up as the fetch-instinct in him got activated.

"I got it! I got it!" the dog cried hastily and quickly rushed down from the tree. He ran over the grass with his eyes focused on the flickering object. He jumped up and caught the map in the air with his teeth.

BOOM!

A deafening sound cut through the air when the ground beneath the chihuahua suddenly exploded. The little puppy uttered a heartrending whine as he was thrown several feet above the ground and landed hard in the grass without moving.

"_PINKY!_"


	2. The Second Obstacle

**2. The Second Obstacle**

My heart paused. It was awful seeing one of your best friends violently get thrown in the air and then helplessly hit the ground.

Without even bothering about carefully get down from the tree I jumped right down. The pain in my feet spread up my legs when I landed, but it was the last thing I had on my mind at the moment. Immediately, I ran across the meadow towards the nonmoving puppy.

Behind me, I heard the sound of rattling leaves of that my friends also got down. Darren, who of course flew all the way over, arrived first at the chihuahua's side.

"Holy ducks! Are you alright?" the bird asked worried.

The puppy moved slightly and then slowly got up in a sitting position. He turned his head towards the mallard quite puzzled.

"WHAT?" Pinky asked, so loud that Darren winced.

The rest of us came up beside them.

"I ASKED IF YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" Darren screamed right into his face.

"WHAT?" Pinky screamed again.

"The bang flom the explosion must have made you deaf", Peter said while helping the chihuahua up on his feet.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I THINK THE BANG FROM THE EXPLOSION MADE ME DEAF!" the dog shouted.

"YOU DON'T SAY!" Darren shouted sarcastic at him.

"WHAT?"

"NEVERMIND!"

"WHAT?"

"We have to hope that it is only temporary. Fortunately, he does not seem to be in badly injured otherwise", Terry noted and looked at the little dog, who was picking his ear with his front-indextoe.

"No, thank goodness!" I said relieved.

"This is _outrageous!_ Are those at the agency completely out of their _mind_s_!?_ Do they want to _kill_ us before we even get a chance to graduate?" Darren said outraged.

"Well, I think we all can agree on now that we are taking the long way around the meadow to the next station", Terry assumed.

"Definitely!" Peter said with no hesitation.

"D'YOU NOW WHAT I THINK? I THINK IT'D BE BETTER IF WE TAKE THE LONG WAY AROUND THE MEADOW TO THE NEXT STATION!" Pinky yelled.

"WE'VE ALREADY DECIDED… Oh, whatever!" I said, grabbing the puppy's wrist and pulled him towards the settled direction.

* * *

Pinky's hearing returned, just as Terry had anticipated, after we had walked for a while.

Our next destination was the cliffs of an island in the middle of a big lake in the forest.

"I can't see it anywhere", Pinky said and squinted out over the water towards the island, which was pretty far out.

"It is possible that it may be hidden among the rocks or under the water", Terry said.

"Well, it's the right position at least", Darren noted, glanced at the map that the turtle was holding.

"It'll probably be easier to find once we get over", I adopted.

"Yeah, and apparently this seems to be my lucky day", the duck said contentedly. "Air- and waterways are my speciality."

"Yeah, we can easily swim over in no time", I said, looking down at my reflection in the calm water.

"I don't like swimming", Peter suddenly said firm.

Sigh! It is _always_ something, isn't it?

"Well, what a shame", Darren said bit spiteful to him. "Unfortunately for you, there doesn't seem to be much of a choice here."

"Did you not heal what I said? I. Don't. Like. _Swimming!_" the stubborn panda reiterated sternly. "I am _not_ stepping my foot into that lake!"

The bear pointed firmly at the lake.

"Thanks, I heard you perfectly the first time, but this isn't about what you like and not like. Do you see any charter boat around here by the way?" Darren asked annoyed. "We can't let the whole team be hold back just because _you_ aren't happy with the alternatives, you whiner!"

"Um, I _hate_ to bother you, but… I am not very comfortable with swimming either", Terry suddenly admitted a little sheepish. "I might be a turtle, but I am not a _sea _turtle."

"Thele you see! I'm not the only one", Peter snapped pompous. "Besides, I can bet my bamboo shoots on that that lake plobably is filled with electlic eels, clocodiles or some othel nasty things."

"That's not impossible", I had to admit.

"Well, how are we supposed to get to the island then?" Pinky wondered.

"Easy! We build a laft", Peter said simple. "We can use that tall dead tlee ovel thele fol matelial."

The black-and-white bear pointed at a tall bare tree nearby. The light barkless trunk stood noticing out from the other trees around it.

"Alright then, let's do some _chopping!_" said Darren alert and took off his hat to look for the string to start up the built-in chainsaw.

"Wait! Allow _me_", Peter suddenly said sure and bowed before us. Then he walked up to the trunk of the tree, which was about the same width in diameter as the bear's belly.

He spat on the pads of his paws and then he rubbed them together. Then he started pushing the trunk, making the big tree sway. The bear continued to push on so that the tree's roots began to pop up from the ground.

"TIMBEEEEEEL!" Peter shouted before the whole tree fell over. The top of the leafless tree crown landed in the water with a loud splash, splitting the surface.

"Thele you go!" the panda declared and proudly held out a paw towards the felled tree.

"Wow! Nice done!" Pinky said impressed.

"Yeah, I know", Peter said cocky.

"Hmpf! Showoff!" Darren muttered.

We used our chainsaws to first cut off the roots and most parts of the crown. Then we divided the trunk into three equally big parts that we later tied together next to each other with rope. The remains of the wood from the tree top, we used to carve some oars for us.

After a few strenuous minutes we were finally able to launch our works. Pinky, Peter and I took place by the raft's stern and began pushing it down into the water while Terry and Darren pushed it by the fore to make sure it wouldn't dig down and get stuck in the wet ground by the shore. Eventually, we managed to get it completely in the water there it peacefully floated on the surface.

"Whew! Finally!" Peter puffed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Now, let's just hope that it can carry the all five of us", Pinky said.

"It should, I calculated the measurements carefully", Terry reassured.

"Then I guess we have nothing to fear", Darren said.

"Yeah, and even if it won't float, for some strange reason, Darren and I can just get off and swim beside", I said.

"Exactly!" Darren agreed surefooted. "_We_ aren't scared of any lake monsters, right Perry?"

"'Course not!" I said confidently and made a high-five with my billed companion. "It's rather _they_ who should fear _us_."

"Yeah whatevel, can we get to wolk now?" Peter asked a bit annoyed.

"Yeah! C'me on, let's see what this baby can do!" Pinky said eager and ran out into the water to get aboard. The rest of us followed him.

I waited until the others had gotten aboard first before I pushed the raft a bit further out in the lake. Then I swam out to it and climbed on. Pinky and Darren helped me up.

We all settled down on already arranged stations. Since we were all unequally heavy we tried to distribute ourselves so that the raft wouldn't tip over. Pinky and I had our seats by the fore while Darren and Peter had by the stern. Terry, on the other hand, had his seat right in the middle of the raft, holding on to a pair of binoculars. His job was to look out for possible dangers while the rest of us steered. The four of us grabbed our oars and got ready to paddle.

"Alright everybody, let's all strike together in a synchronized tempo!" I called to the others.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Darren, who was sitting right behind me on the same line, called a bit joking.

"Okay, everybody, on three! One, two, _three!_" I stroke with the paddle to move the raft forwards. "One, two, _three!_"

Behind me I heard the others joining in.

"ONE, TWO, _THREE!_ ONE, TWO, _THREE!_ ONE, TWO, _THREE…!_"

"Peter, you're supposed to paddle _at_ three. Not one-two-three and _then_ paddle", Darren explained.

"Well, it would have been a lot easiel if it wasn't because _someone_ has to count so fast!"

I noticed that he made a little emphasis on the word 'someone'. Was it _me_ he was referring to?

I turned my head and looked wondering at him.

I was well aware of that Peter wasn't particularly fond of me. True, he'd never actually said it out loud, but he didn't have to. I got the picture.

Myself, I had nothing against Peter personally (at least that's what I'm _trying_ to convince myself), though, I have to admit that I don't really share his views and opinions on things.

I do understand that all individuals are different and I respect that. I always do my best to try to stay on friendly terms with everyone, no matter how obnoxious, irritable… stubborn or… _puffed up _they might be!

"Hey, we're all counting in the exact same tempo and, as far as I see, _you_ are the only one that has a problem with it", Darren pointed out annoyed. "Why do you _always_ have to complain about _everything?_"

"_I_ _complaining!?_ Who's the one complaining _now_ if I may ask?"

That Peter disgraced Darren wasn't a secret to anyone, though.

"I wasn't _complaining_. I was just trying to come with suggestions", Darren calmly tried to persuade him.

"Could you two, _please_, stop _arguing?_" Pinky begged tired. "It won't get us anywhere."

"Oh, I've had it!" I said and put aside my paddle aboard the raft. Then I took out a rope and tied one end around the middle log, right behind the other rope that tied the raft together. The other end, I tied around my belly before diving into the water. I gazed at the island in front of us and started to swim towards it. I felt the extra weight holding me back slightly while I stroke with my beaver tail in the water to move forwards. I tried to keep my head above the surface in case the other would have to shout to me.

"Say, how come _I _didn't think of that?" I heard Darren say.

A few seconds later I heard a splash and felt on the motions in the water that something dived in next to me. In the corner of my eye, I noticed that the duck had followed my example. With my eyes right by the water surface, I managed to see the total image of the struggling mallard, who was holding on to another rope end that led over his shoulder while his feet paddled underneath him, quick as drumsticks.

"Don't just sit there lounging! Keep paddling!" Darren shouted to the others.

With Darren's assistance and the extra strikes from Pinky and Peter (I presumed), I felt the weight letting up a little and I could swim faster. At this rate, we'd be over in no time.

"Uh-oh!"

Well, that didn't sound promising.

"What do you mean 'uh-oh'?" Darren asked Terry and stopped swimming. I did so too.

"Has 'uh-oh' ever meant something good?" I asked the duck sarcastic and then turned to the others.

"I see something by the shore", the tortoise told, still looking through the binoculars directed at the island.

"What?" I wondered and climbed back up on the raft again.

"Let me see", Peter asked.

Terry took off the strap around his neck and handed over the binoculars to the bear.

The panda squinted through the double-lenses and searched along the beach for a while.

"Clocodiles, I told you so", he eventually said a bit sighing.

"To be more accurate, I think they are alligators", Terry corrected.

"Whatevel!" Peter said nonchalant.

"Alright, that settles it! The agency really _does_ want to kill us", Darren, who'd also gotten up on the raft, sighed hopelessly.

"May I have a look too?" I asked curious.

The panda lowered the binoculars and handed them to me. I placed the double-lenses in front of my eyes and directed it towards the island. Through the round image inside them I first got a close-up of a bunch of trees. I searched around until I finally found the shore. There by the water, I noticed a lot of gnarls sticking up above the surface as the gigantic reptiles slowly swam by.

"How many are they?" Pinky asked.

I tried to distingue which gnarls belonged to the same gator and counted the predators.

"I see five of them", I announced and lowered the binoculars.

"I got them to eight when I counted", Terry told, and then gently took back the binoculars to take another look.

"Do you think they have spotted us yet?" Darren wondered.

"I do not think so", Terry said. "They are too far away."

"If they had seen us they would have been on theil way ovel hele alleady, right?" Peter thought.

"Mm, unless… they are _expecting_ us", Terry said thoughtfully.

"What makes you think that?" Pinky wondered.

Terry lowered the binoculars and turned to us.

"Well, you see, usually it is only smaller alligators that live together in group while the larger ones live by themselves. None of these guys are particular small and it is not mating season."

"You mean there's no for them to gather like this?" I guessed as I thought I began to understand where he was going with this.

"Unless they know that there is _food_ coming", the turtle said. "The agency has probably used exactly the same alligators during earlier tests so they have most likely learned by now that there is no reason for them to swim around and hunt since they already know precisely where the food will arrive. As you might see, the island has a lot of cliff surrounding most of the shore and the only safe place get aland is by that beach."

"You mean they ale _tlained?_" Peter asked.

"Well, maybe not like we are, but enough to notice repeating patterns."

"So, how do we get past them?" I asked brooding.

"Are you sure we can't board the island by the cliffs?" Darren wondered.

Terry took out the map again and studied it for a moment.

"No, only _you_ would be able to do that because of your flying ability", the turtle informed. "I can not find any other safe spots."

"Hmm...", Pinky pondered, pensively resting his head in his front-paw.

"Hey! Guys!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I think I have an idea!"

* * *

Through the murky green water, close to the sandy seabed, I watched the cliffs of the island unveil before me. I threw regularly looks over both of my shoulders to keep an eye out for the alligators. I'd already equipped myself with a long thick stick that I had taken from the lake floor, and a coiled rope over my shoulder. I'd also made sure that I easily could bring out my gun in case I would get in really big trouble.

Once I got to the cliff, I swam to the right with my body close to the rock wall. I slowed down a little when I noticed that the wall began to curve inwards. When I caught sight of one of the big reptiles swimming right by the surface, I stopped. It was still about thirty feet to it, but I decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

I cautiously swam up along the wall to the surface. There I got a better view over the beach and, more important, the alligators.

I began tinkering with my wristcommunicator and called Terry.

"I am in position now", I quietly announced to the turtle, whose face appeared on the small round screen.

"Great! Now we just need to await the decoy duck", he said.

"I'll report back as soon as I see him", I promised.

"Roger! Over and out!"

I hung up and then lowered my head down below the surface again. It was much easier to keep an eye for the alligators there.

After a few minutes, I suddenly saw the lower side of a dark and oblong object that floated by the surface in towards the island. I was heading towards the rocks to the right of the shore, away from me.

Finally, I tought and swam up to the surface again to report.

Pinky's plan had been to separate one of the logs from the raft and then letting Darren paddling towards the island alone, in order to lead the alligators away from the beach. Then, the rest of us could sneak aland behind them. My role in the whole plan was to swim ahead to keep track of the gators and make sure that the whole operation went as planned, and alert in case something went wrong.

"C'ME ON HERE YOU UGLY OVERGROWN HANDBAGS!" Darren called to the great reptiles that immediately set off towards him as planned. "ANYONE UP FOR SOME DUCK FOR LUNCH?"

He held an oar high above his head, ready to slap the gators. Besides the oar, Darren also had a water bomb (a bomb that activates when it comes in contact with water) close to hand in case the alligators would become too intrusive. Hopefully, he won't have to use it at all. The plan was, after all, for him to _attract_ them and not to scare them away.

After I'd report to the others, I dived beneath the surface again to count and make sure that all gators took the bait.

... six... seven... eight... and nine. (We found one more when we made a more careful check earlier). Well, that was all, now the beach was free. I looked up towards the surface and saw the underside of the other two logs. The three oars repeatedly cut the surface as the raft moved in towards the island.

Suddenly I noticed that two of the alligators seperated from the pack and headed straight toward the larger raft.

Oh no you don't! Not in _my_ water!

Without really thinking very much I swam out from the wall and waved wildly with my hands against them. They saw me and directly swam in my direction. While the two reptiles hurried along, almost motionless, towards me, I quickly took out the rope, which I had already taken the time to tie into a snare by one end, and held up the loop in front of me.

One of the alligators swam slightly faster than the other and therefore arrived first. I quickly dodged to the side, avoiding the rapidly closing jaws and let the reptile's long U-shaped snout fall right into the snare, which I then immediately pulled hard. Above me, I suddenly saw right down the throat of the second alligator, ready to close his jaws around me, but for him I had another surprise. I directly pressed in the stick vertically so that it got stuck between the gator's palate and tongue. Then I quickly swam close up behind him and climbed up on his thick-skinned neck and put my hands before his eyes. He immediately began to flounder about and bucking his head to lose the stick. While holding on tight to him, I cast a quick glance down at the other wriggling reptile to make sure that the knot around the snout didn't lose up.

I knew that the muscles that merges the jaws of alligators and crocodiles are very powerful, but that the muscles to _open_ them, however, were ridiculously weak. It was enough to only use something as simple as a rubber band or tape to hold them shut.

After a while, I saw the stick slowly sank to the bottom when it finally came off. I was quick to immediately put one hand under the reptile's chin and the other one on top of his nose to force the jaws together with a smack. Then I took the other end of the rope and tied him up too.

I left the two alligators to helplessly struggle trying to break free and swam up to the surface to search for my friends. Pinky, Terry and Peter had already managed to make their way to the beach and were wading in the last part since the raft apparently had run aground. Against the blue sky, I saw Darren flying around. Apparently, the alligators had become a little too much for him in the end. Well, it didn't matter anyhow at this point, we were all safe now.

I obviously thought that thought way too soon, because there were actually yet_ one_ person that still wasn't out of danger. Me.

I had completely forgotten about being careful when I wrestled the two alligators and suddenly I noticed that the other seven remaining killer reptiles were all going straight towards me.

Uh-oh!

I didn't have enough bullets in the gun to take them all out so there was only one thing left for me to do. SWIM FOR MY LIFE!

Quickly, I turned around and went off like a torpedo. I throw an eye over my shoulder and watched the big reptiles slip after more and more. That they were slower than I didn't surprise me, but it wasn't enough for me to feel at ease. My biggest problem at the moment wasn't that they would catch up to me. It was that I didn't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't swim around them on the outer side since they were too spread out, and the rocks were just too difficult to climb.

Suddenly, I heard an explosion behind me whose sound got dampened a bit of water and whose diffusing force gave me a short ride on the flow. I turned around and among multi of bubbles streaming up to the surface I saw the alligators flee away in terror.

"I needed a good place for that water bomb anyway", Darren, who I suddenly noticed was hovering over me, said. "It was just taking up space in my luggage."

"Well, thank you very much!" I said grateful.

"D'you want a lift up to the island?"

"Are you sure you can carry me all the way up?" I asked a bit dubious, and looked up towards the cliffs.

"It's only a short distance, I think I can handle it. Grab on!"

I grabbed the wild drake's thin legs and watched from below how he wildly started flapping his wings faster to pull me out. I saw the rock wall disappear down before my eyes like a fast downwards going escalator before I finally felt solid ground under my webbed feet again.

"Whew! I made it! I _actually made it!_" Darren exclaimed, slightly panting. Apparently, he was pretty surprised by his own effort.

"Yeahyeah, well done", I said nonchalant and shook off most of the water from my soaked coat.

"Hey, you! Say it, don't spray it!" he said annoyed, but not to irritated, and winced and blinked when the drops hit him in the eye.

"Oh, and I who brought some extras just for you", I joked and sprawled my wet fingers close to his face so that even more drops fell on him. "No, let's go at meet up with the others now."

We went back to the beach where the others waited. Pinky immediately rushed up to meet us.

"Where did you go? I thought we were supposed to meet up right at the beach", the pup said.

"Did we not agree on that you would swim ashore _right_ after the alligators had been lead away?" Terry asked and sounded pretty serious. He and Peter joined us right behind Pinky.

"Yes, I know, but I had to take care of two of them that separated from the pack", I told.

"Wait! _You_ fought two of those beasts all by _yourself?_" Pinky asked and seemed quite impressed.

"Well… yeah", I said a bit modest.

"Man, that's just _so cool!_" the chihuahuan exclaimed.

"He _always_ has to be a helo", I thought I heard Peter murmur.

"I beg your pardon?" I said to him.

"Well, we are all here now anyway", Terry, who didn't seem to have heard the panda's harsh words, said a bit sighing. "Let us try to find that capsule now, shall we?"

The turtle took out the folded map from his hat again and began unfolding it.

"_Ahrm!_ I can inform you that that part is already solved", Darren suddenly pointed out proud. "When I was leading the alligators away I couldn't avoid noticing something shiny dangling by the cliffs over there."

Darren pointed with a brown wingfeather off towards the right side of the beach where the alligators had swum earlier.

"Oh, well, that's great!" Pinky said. "Let's go then!"

The second capsule looked exactly like the first one. It hung in a long string a few feet down below the edge of the cliff. It repeatedly hammered against the rock wall with a constant deafening high pitched clang. Darren flew down and picked it up. We opened it the same way as we did with the first one and took out the map that would lead us to the next station.

"Alright guys! Two down, three to go!" Pinky exclaimed happily and made high five with everyone of us. "What an incredible team we are!"

"Yeah… sure... incredible...", I uttered a little hesitant, and couldn't help but glancing at Peter.

"Alright then, let's move on to the next location", Darren, who'd taken a look at the map over Terry's shoulder.

"Yes, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer", Terry stated and folded the new map. "We have to get back to the mainland."

"Aha, okay… Wait! WHAT!?"

He did not say just that? _Seriously!? _Oh great!


	3. The Third Obstacle

**3. The Third Obstacle**

"Well, hi guys!"

The familiar voice came from between the trees to the left of the trail we walked on and when I turned around, I saw Kitty the Cat coming our way. Right behind her was Danny the Dog, Owen the Owl, Tucker the Turkey and Sergei the Snail, who was tacked on to a stick that Tucker was holding.

"Hi!" I greeted back happy.

"How are you doing so far?" the feline asked.

"You mean with the exception of that we only recently almost got eaten by hungry alligators? Well, pretty swell I guess", Darren said a bit sarcastic.

The way back to the mainland had gone relatively easy. Darren and I had swum as fast as we could and the gators didn't even notice us until we were almost there. They didn't even get a chance to catch up on us before we were all aland.

"You got alligators huh?" Sergei said interestingly.

"Well, we got piranhas", Danny informed.

Oh, right! All groups have been designated to different stations, I suddenly remembered. I wonder what kind of challengers the other teams have gotten…

"Yeah, I'll tell you, I'm _so _going to report this test to the management", Darren said upset. "These tasks are _way _too dangerous. This is _not _how you treat the agents of the future."

"Aww, was poor little Darren scared?" Kitty teased a little.

"I wasn't _scared_, I just don't have a wish to _die_, that's all", he said.

"So, how many tasks have _ya_ gott'n through so fah?" Tucker asked curious.

"We just finished our second one", Terry informed.

"_That's all?_ Ha! What a bunch of slowpokes you are", Kitty teased a little laughing.

"Um, the test is not a race", the turtle pointed out a bit wondering. "All groups have been assigned different stations on different locations. It would just have been unfair."

"How many have _you_ finished by the way?" I asked them curious.

"Our third base is just a few meters away in that direction", Owen told and pointed through the dense thicket to the right of the path.

"But… that means that you've gotten about as far as we have", Pinky realized a little puzzled.

"And you'le calling _us_ slowpokes. What's up with that?" Peter wondered.

"I was just intimidating you", Kitty said easygoing.

"Oh, I see! You don't believe you'll get finished before us", I said taunting.

"Ha! You gotta be kidding me, right?" the cat said incredulously. "There's no chance that you'll get there first."

"Oh yeah? How about settle thing up?" I suggested thrilled.

"Ooh, a challenge? I like the sound of that. Okay, it's a deal!" Kitty said psyched up and held out a yellow paw toward me to shake hands on it.

"May the best team win", I said and shook the paw.

"Well, that won't be hard to tell which _that's_ gonna be", Pinky said confidently.

"_Exactly!_ I couldn't agree more", Owen said sure.

"Uh, is this really necessary?" Terry questioned weary. "It is not even a real contest…"

"Alright, guys! Let's give it all we've got!" Danny said all fired up, interrupting the turtle.

"YEAH!"

"Then let's move!" Owen said eager.

"Good luck boys!" Kitty said to us. "You're gonna need it."

"Thanks, but we don't need any _luck _to win", I said bold. "We all got enough _mad skills_ to make up for that."

"I will let the outcome speak for that", the cat said. "Well, see you one the other side of the finish line!"

The five other animal agents moved on through the woods.

"Only _after_ you've eaten _our dust!_" I called after them.

* * *

The next stop was by the foot of a high mountain. A thick fog swept around us the closer we got and it was hard to even discern the outline of the mountain. If it hadn't been for the spreading irregular circle-shaped contour lines around a certain spot on the map, we'd probably have missed that it even was there.

"Alright gang, this is the place. The capsule should be here somewhere", Darren, who'd managed to persuade Terry to re-take the charge of the map, stated and stopped walking. He looked up at the tall dusky triangular silhouette that arose before us through the white mist.

"Well, I don't see anything", Peter pointed out a bit sourly, "but I guess I shouldn't be too sulplised."

"Hey, this time I am sure", the duck said, "and I can prove it to you."

Darren walked over to Peter and showed him the map.

"See, we're right here, right by this curve a few feet from that big boulder that just passed…"

Terry leaned his head slightly towards me.

"Say, how come Peter is always so hostile against Darren?" he asked whispering.

"Don't ask me", I said short and pretended to look around for the capsule in the fog. Seriously,_ don't ask!_

"Well, we have to search the area for it. Behind big rocks, among the bushes, in the trees. The capsule _is_ here somewhere", Darren said decisively and we all spread out and began searching, carefully so that we wouldn't lose each other in the fog.

I pulled away a couple of leafy branches of a shrub to take a look when suddenly a sparrow flew out from it straight into my face while uttering a high squeal, making me jerk. It continued to fly away to the sky and disappeared into the fog. I kept searching inside the shrub.

"Hey! Amigos! I've found it!" I suddenly heard Pinky call a few feet away. "Or, well, I've found _something._"

I rushed directly to where the voice came from. My other teammates had already managed to find him before me and, with their noses in the air, they stared at something above their heads.

"That one doesn't look any like the others", Darren pointed out.

I turned my head up to see what they were all looking at. In the long slender tree in front of us, I saw a dark gray cubical shaped metal box, which looked to be about the same height as me. One of its corners were attached to one end of a rope, whose other end was attached almost right by the top of the narrow tree, which due to the box's weight was bent.

"Do you think it could be some kind of clue?" Pinky wondered.

"Well, it's not a _fruit_, that's for sure", Darren said ironic. "I fly up and check it out."

The water fowl flapped his wings, making the leaves on the ground whirl around, and flew up to the box. Once there, he tried to land his webbed feet on one of the flat sloping sides, which apparently turned out to be not that easy. The duck flapped like crazy while trying to find a relative stable place on the slippery surface and later by the edges. The bent tree top lowered and rose due to the extra weight repeatedly being put on and off, making the box swing. Eventually, Darren gave up and flew back down to us.

"It's completely sealed", he told just before he landed. His wingbeats gave us all a small whiff. "I couldn't find anywhere on it on how to get it open. And that wire is made of some kind of metal. Does anybody have a really strong pincher or something?"

"I have", Terry told.

"Great! Then I'm just going to put on my special shoes so I can stand on that thing while clipping the wire…"

"_Or_, we could just saw down the tree", Pinky suggested.

Darren looked a bit dumfounded him.

"Well… that could work too…"

"It is a _living_ tree", Terry pointed out seriously. "It is illegal to cut down trees that are still alive."

"Well… yeah, but even agents s'got to make some exceptions sometimes", Pinky opined.

"Whoa, wait! Before we do anything drastic here, let's try imagining the whole picture", I asked them to. "Exactly _what_ would happen if we chop down the tree?"

"Um, it _falls?_" Peter said and looked at me as if I was a complete moron.

"Exactly! And the box would probably get smashed", I pointed out.

"Yeah, isn't that what we want? To get it opened?" Peter asked and seemed somewhat annoyed.

"We have no idea of what's inside that thing", I remarked seriously. "Who knows, it might be a bomb."

"A bomb?" Peter questioned skeptic.

"Well, considering everything else we've gotten through so far I wouldn't be surprised", I said.

"He's got a point there", Darren admitted.

Pinky looked up at the box and recoiled a little, as if he expected it to detonate at any time.

"D'you think _this_ could what our next obstacle is all about?" the chihuahua wondered out loud. "Opening a well-sealed box?"

"It is possible", Terry said. "The question is, how do we get it down in one piece?"

"Oh, let _me_ take cale that", Peter said sure. "You lemebel that it sunk a little when Dallen tlied to land on it ealliel? If I climb up the tlunk, I can make the tlee bend and the box will eventually leach the glound and then you can just snip off the wile."

"Yeah… and _after_ we've cut the string the tree will sling you away like a catapult. I like that idea!" Darren said in a way that was hard to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. Or both.

"I will _not_ get sling away", Peter said determined. "When it comes to handling poles _I_'m the best. I can hold on without flying off."

"Well, it _is_ actually a very good plan to safely get down the box", Terry said quite impressed and even though I hated to admit it, I actually agreed.

"I know. After all, _I_'m the one who suggested it. Okay, hele I go!" the panda said eager and grabbed on around the trunk, which was just a little bit wider than himself, and started pulling himself up.

"If only _I_ could climb like that", I heard Pinky say impressed while we all observed how the black-and-white bear grabbed his furry hind legs around the bark to be able to then move his front paws higher, then repeating the process over and over. Well, I guess bears _are_ good climbers.

The tree leaned over more and more the higher he got. Well, that is, until he got to the curve's highest point, then he technically was climbing _downwards_. We saw the gray metal box coming closer to us and we managed to get a more careful look at it. All the square sides were welded so open it with a crowbar was not even to talk about. Even the screws that were placed along the edges, giving each side a square dotted frame, had been welded.

"Just a little bit more!" Terry called to the panda that upside-down held on to the underside of the leaning trunk, which was a lot narrower at higher level. The bear kept cautiously pulling himself forward a few more inches 'til the box eventually reached the ground completely.

"Is that enough?" he shouted at us and I heard on his muffled voice that he was struggling to hold on.

"Yes, that's fine!" I announced loudly and heaved myself up on the box's upper side to cut the wire. The box was only a little bit taller than I.

Terry handed me the pincher and I placed the open sharp nippers around the thick steel wire without pulling them together yet.

"We're ready here, are you holding on tight?" I asked and looked up at the panda between the tree crown's leafy narrow branches.

"_Just do it will you!_" he cried irritated.

"Alright! Here goes!" I shouted and pulled the nippers together. I had to exaggerate a little before I managed to completely snip the gray wire. I saw the upper part of the string above the pincher disappears in a flash before my eyes and a 'schwung' was heard when the tree crown flung.

"WAAAAAH...!" I heard Peter shout as the tree trunk straightened out. We all followed him intently with our eyes and crossed our fingers that he wouldn't hurl away. Amazingly, he didn't.

The tree continued to rapidly wiggle for a while so all that was seen of the bear was some blurry black-and-white curved lines. The wiggling slowed down until it finally stopped completely. Peter still held on tight to the trunk before he slowly began climbing down.

Was it just me, or did the panda's movements seem to be a bit shaky?

Apparently, it wasn't just me because suddenly we all watched how the bear limply began to lean backwards and loose the grip around the tree trunk.

"Uh-oh, I think he is fainting!" Terry said worried.

"Oh, no!" Pinky exclaimed appalled.

"Quick! Out with the damp-field!" Terry ordered and immediately took out two small things that kind of reminded a little of double-pointing laser pointers bent like boomerangs.

I immediately threw the pincher aside and jumped down from the box. On the fly, I also took out two identical pointers and directed one of them against Terry, who held one of his in my direction, and my other one towards Pinky. Pinky and Terry directed both their second pointer towards Darren, who was standing opposite to me a few feet away, also directing his pointers to them. An electric beam was sent out from all the pointers through the air and connected them to each other into a large circle. My eyes got dazzled by that light from the flash beam that linked my own two pointers to each other in their other ends, right in front of my chest. A transparent magenta force field appeared in the middle of the circle and spread out along the electric edges.

This was a kind of electric safety net that O.W.C.A. had created specifically to mitigate the decline of free-falling objects.

We quickly located exactly where the panda would land and immediately rushed over there. Helplessly, we watched the panda hit some of the tree branches on the way down. He landed just a smidgeon above the middle of the field, closest to Pinky, where he bounced a few times. When he'd stopped bouncing, we gently placed him down on the ground and turned off the force field.

"Peter, are you alright?" Pinky asked him anxiously and took his paw. "_Please_, say something!"

The panda's head turned a little to the side towards Pinky. That's when I noticed the big swelling in his forehead that stretched out the skin so that the blue-and-reddened skin beneath the white coat was visible. He must have hit his head in the trunk when the tree was thrown back and forth.

"Urgh…", he suddenly uttered low and slowly opened his eyelids and looked up at Pinky with his tiny eyes.

"Pinky… Lemind me to _nevel_ do that again."

Pinky let out a sigh in relief and so did the rest of us too.

"Here! Take this!" Terry said and held out a plastic bag filled with ice.

Terry placed the bag on the swollen area of Peter's head. The panda grimaced in pain a little, but still took the bag and rested it on his forehead. Then he slowly stood up on his hind legs.

"Go and rest for a while", Darren recommended. "We'll take care of the box."

Pinky helped Peter to gently get to the nearest tree to sit down and lean his back against the tree trunk.

"Oooo!" he wailed a little when the pain flared up.

"You should have worn a helmet", I said to him.

He glanced annoyed up at me, still with the ice bag against the swelling.

"Well, thank fol telling me that _now!_" he snapped at me.

Jeez!

"C'me on! Let's check out the box", Darren suggested, and the four of us went over to it.

Terry, who arrived first, took a closer look to inspect the welded edges.

"It is completely sealed as you said", he stated. "A crowbar will not be enough."

"How 'bout a chainsaw?" Pinky suggested.

"I do not think that would work either", the turtle said thoughtful and knocked a little on one of the sides. "The metal is too hard. I think we will have to use the lasers to open it."

"Okay, let's try that", I said determined.

We all started tinkering with our wristwatches with the built-in laser in it.

"We take each side, so we can open it quicker", Pinky suggested and walked around to the side opposite to Terry.

"That sounds good", Terry said and nodded.

Darren and I took positions by the two remaining sides and we all started working on the metal shell by the corners, just below the thin bulging welding lines.

A weak, yet quite annoying, 'bzzz' was heard while the thin red beams burrowed into the metal. Terry had been right when he assumed that the metal was hard 'cause it took a while before the beam managed to penetrate completely. Slowly, I brought the laser further to the right while I, almost hypnotized, followed the small point where the beam cut with my eyes. It was actually very unexciting.

"Well… this is boring", I said.

"Yeah… Anybody know a good song?" Darren asked.

"Oh, oh! How about the O.W.C.A. song? You know: _O.W.C.A_….", Pinky suggested enthusiastic and suddenly began singing the chorus.

_"… it's fun to work at the…",_ Darren sang.

_"… O.W.C.A.",_ they both sang loud.

_"Whether you gallop around…",_ I sang.

_"… or crawl on the ground…",_ Terry sang.

_"… it's time that we party down",_ the all four of us sang together and made a crescendo. _"It's fun to work at the_

_O.W.C.A._

_It's fun to work at the_

_O.W.C.A."_

I couldn't help but to start dancing a little on the spot. I just had to make sure that I kept holding the pointer straight.

_"When fighting evil is done_

_and you've finally won_

_it's time to kick back and have some fu…"_

"DO YOU _HAVE TO_ SING LIGHT _NOW!?_" Peter suddenly burst out, highly irritated. "I ALLEADY HAVE A HEADACHE!"

"Oh! Sorry Peter! We'll be quiet", Pinky promised.

Great! _Right_ when we're starting to have fun here!

After a while, we finally managed to cut off the upper part and therefore we could finally open and see what's inside the large container. Peter had by this time managed to recover slightly and waited, just like the rest of us, strained to see what kind of mysteries that was being unveiled.

I carefully took a grip of the loose upper part, which still was pretty warm due to the lasers, and slid it aside a bit. Ten eyes immediately threw down over the somewhat jagged metal edge.

"I don't see any bomb", Peter said quite disappointed while we all stared at the well-known red-and-silver colored capsule, which was the only thing that was in it. Its shimmering silver metal made the gray metal of the larger box to look pretty dirty in comparison.

"Well, it was better to be safe than sorry", Terry said and shrugged.

I pulled away the top-side and let it lean against the box on the ground. Then I heaved myself up over the edge to get inside and get the capsule. It wasn't until I'd picked it up around that I felt that there was something different about it. I turned it around in my paws and a few inches below the black strip I noticed a small keyboard with a thin digital display on it.

"How's it going?" Darren suddenly asked.

"Look at this!" I called and showed my teammates the keyboard. Everyone looked in wonder at it.

"Let me see closer", Terry asked and held out his orange forefeet towards me. I handed it to him and leaned over the edge without getting out of the box.

"What do you think this means?" I wondered after the others had managed to get a closer look at it.

"Obviously problem", Darren said sarcastic.

"I assume that we are supposed to type some kind of password", Terry adopted and kept inspecting the keyboard. "A password with letters."

"So... whatcha think that could be?" Pinky wondered.

"I honestly have no idea", Terry said pondering.

"This is a strange task", Darren said quite frustrated. "I'm almost starting to miss the alligators. _Almost_. At least we knew what to do that time. _This_ on the other hand is just… mean."

"Well, all challenges do not need to be life risking to be difficult", Terry noted. "They can simply just be...well, tricky."

"Is there any chance that we can hack the password?" Pinky asked tentative.

"I am already trying to see if we can detach the board to get to the wires", Terry, who tried to peep into the small gap between the keyboard and the capsule, told, "though, I does not look like it is possible. We need the password."

"Maybe thele'le some kind of clues in the alea to what the passwold could be", Peter suggested.

"Well, that would not be illogical", Terry admitted.

"Well, there _sure_ are a lot of options around here for us to choose between", Darren said sarcastic. "Whatcha think the right word could be? Rock? Tree? Stick? Leaf?"

"Potato?" I said out loud.

"Potato", Darren repeated without thinking. "_Potato!?_"

"Where do you see that?" Pinky asked puzzled.

"In here!" I reported.

At the bottom part of the box by one of the corners, I had noticed something that looked like a scripture engraved in the metal. I bent down and squinted to try to discern the text. I blew away the dust that filled the neatly carved grooves.

"There's something written here", I told. Shadows descended over me when my friends leaned over the edge to look after, which made it harder for me to read the text.

"What? What's it saying?" asked Pinky excited.

I took out a flashlight and a magnifying glass and began to read aloud:

"'To open the capsule, one must write potato backwards.'"

"Well, _that_ went a lot easier than I thought it would be", Darren said content.

"Why potato?" Peter wondered puzzled.

"Jeez I dunno, maybe some kind of intern joke among the test constructers", Darren guessed wildly. "Alright, so, hm… potato backwards becomes…"

"Otatop", Terry answered before any of us even got the time to figure it out by ourselves.

"Yeahyeah, no need to show off. Just write it down, will you?" Darren asked the turtle a bit nonchalant.

Terry typed the code on the little keyboard and pressed enter.

_"BZZZ!"_ it ominously sounded from the machine and a digital red text appeared on the small screen.

"'Access denied'?" Terry read, highly surprised.

"WHAT!?" exclaimed Pinky astonished.

"Maybe you spelled it wlong", Peter suggested.

"_Terry?_ Spelling _WRONG!?_" Pinky said, even _more_ astonished.

"I can call up the letters slowly, if you'd like?" I offered.

"Yeah… Sure, go ahead", the reptile uttered, still very confound.

I leaned down over the small text again and loudly called up the first... uh... I mean _last_ letter in the word and waited until I heard Terry affirmative answer with an echo before I continued with the next one.

"O-T-A-T-O-P. _Otatop!_" Terry spelled out aloud before carefully pressing enter again.

"_BZZZ!_"

"It didn't _work?_" Darren said baffled.

"URGH! You stupid piece of junk!" Peter suddenly burst out and took away the capsule from the turtle.

"WE WLOTE THE LIGHT WOLD! SO _WHY_ WON'T YOU _OPEN!?_" the fierce panda screamed at it and began shaking it furiously.

"I don't understand", Pinky said quite discouraged. "We've done _everything_ right!"

"We must have forgotten something", I adopted and immediately started to look around at other places inside the box. I directed the flashlight to the other three corners to see if there was something written there too, but I didn't find anything at all. Wait! The top piece!

I jumped out of the box and began inspecting the detached upper part. There was nothing there either.

"This is stupid. Who's the idiot that constructed this task?" Darren asked outraged. "It says clearly that we're supposed to write potato backwards so _why won't it work!?_"

Terry suddenly lifted his head up in flash. In the reptile's orange face, I saw his eyes widen up more and more.

"OH! _Now_ I get it!" he suddenly exclaimed loudly and lightly palmed his forehead. "We are not supposed to write _potato_ backwards. We are supposed to write potato backwards!"

"Uuuuhhh… Say what?" Peter asked confused.

"Give me that!" the tortoise said and eagerly took back the capsule from the panda. "Do not worry, I know _exactly_ what I am doing. I hope."

He immediately began pressing on the keyboard.

"P-O-T-A-T-O space B-A-C-K-W-A-R-D-S. _Potato backwards!_" he said aloud and pressed enter.

"_Drrring!_" the capsule said happy and a green text on the screen showed 'access'.

"YES! It worked!" Pinky jubilated loud.

"Yeah, not a second too soon", said Darren liberating.

The all five of us gathered around the canister and put our bands over the black strip. After hearing the wonderful familiar click, we could finally open it.

Considering the previous statistics, we obviously had expected to see a rolled paper lying inside it, so imagine everyone's faces when our eyes were met by something completely different.

"_What_ is _that?_"

* * *

_**Remember to check out my music video of the song "The Agents of O.W.C.A." (made by ErisPerap) on YouTube.**_


	4. The Fourth Obstacle - part 1

**4. The Forth Obstacle – part 1**

"_What_ is _that?_" Pinky asked while we all bewilderedly watched the odd sand-coloured buckled cone-shaped lump of hard clay lying inside the capsule.

"I have _no idea_", I said ponderingly and gently picked up the clump to take a look at it. I twisted and turned it in my paw, studying the long tiny dents on its surface. Its shape _did_ look kind of familiar though…

"It looks like a spettekaka", Terry said.

"A sped-what?" Pinky asked confounded.

"A _spettekaka_. It is a kind of Swedish delicacy, mostly made out of sugar and flour", the turtle explained.

"Well, I _was_ going fol something sweet", Peter said and suddenly grabbed the lump from me.

"NO…!" I cried and reached out my hand for it, but too late, the panda had already taken a bite of the top of it. He chewed for a while, then his face crumpled into a nauseate grimace before he suddenly spat out the chewed pieces on the ground.

"_YUCK!_ Swedish desselts ale not a big hit", he said.

"YOU _IDIOT!_" I shouted angrily and hastily took back the clay lump. "URGH! I'D _JUST_ FIGURED OUT WHAT THIS IS, AND YOU TAKE A _BITE_ OF IT! HOW MORE _STUPID_ CAN YOU GET!?"

Seriously, how can _anyone_ be _that _stupid!?

"Don't call me stupid!" Peter said exasperated. "_He_ was the one who said it was candy."

Peter pointed accusingly at Terry.

"Huh? Um, I just said it _looked like_ it, not that it _was_ it", the turtle corrected, a bit shocked. "Besides, I am not sure if spettekaka is classified as candy. I think it is more of a bake work rather…"

"Ugh! Yeah, anyway, what was it that you'd figure out, Perry?" Pinky asked a bit sighing.

I breathed out slowly to try to come to my senses before I started explaining.

"Okay, look, this _is_ a map", I began, holding up the half-eaten clump. "It's a 3D-model of the mountain behind us. That's our next station."

"OHHHH!" everybody said, suddenly realizing.

"Yeah! Now I see it!" Darren said and viewed the model fascinated. "All these tiny jack are roads that shows how to get up."

"Yeah, I'd _just_ manage to get a glimpse of a tiny red cross by the top, that will say, until _someone_ ate it", I said, staring firmly at the panda.

Peter sighed bothered and rolled his eyes.

"Allight, I'm _solly!_" he said a bit snappish.

"Okay, I guess we should try to find this spot and then go up", Terry said thoughtfully and pointed at a place at the bottom of the model where the road began. "We have to navigate by ourselves the last part."

"I can fly in advance to overview the area when we get there", Darren offered.

"Okay, great! Then let's go!" Pinky said joyful. "To the top!"

While we walked through the woods towards the mountain, I heard Darren chuckle a little to himself behind me.

"Hehehehehe…"

"What's so funny?" Peter asked next him.

I turned my head and saw the wild drake grin amused at the bear.

"Hehehe… Seriously, Peter? _Seriously?_ You _actually_ thought that thing was _candy!?_ Ahahaha…"

"Urgh! Ah, cut it off!" the panda said provoked and pushed the duck.

* * *

"Hey! I just realized one thing! All these tasks represent the four elements!" Pinky suddenly said while we were following the rocky path up the mountain. He was walking right behind Terry, who was walking behind me. I had taken the lead since I was the one who'd offer to take care of the model. Just to be sure that a certain _someone_ wouldn't have a chance to destroy it even more.

"_How_ do you get it to that?" Darren asked Pinky skeptic. He was walking last in the line (right behind Mr. _someone_) so that he could overview everybody in case any of us would fall,

"Well, think about it! The first task, the minefield, represents earth. The second one, the alligator lake, is water. And _this_ one represents air."

"What about the third one?" I questioned.

"Well, since there only are four elements and the test has five stations I guess one has to be left out", Pinky adopted.

"Actually, according to some philosophers, the fifth element is ether, the thing that surrounds the Earth", Terry informed.

"_Exactly!_ And that fits _perfectly_ in with the strange box", Pinky cried elated.

"Well, if that's the case I guess we already now can figure out what the _last_ obstacle is going to be about", Darren said.

Before me, I could already imagine the blinding light from the tall flickering flames surrounding us all inside an incredibly hot circle.

"Uh-oh... well, _that_ does not sound very promising", Terry said and laughed a little uneasily.

"I think you'le just thinking too much", Peter said sceptic. "Thele is plobably no lelation between the elements and the obstacles. At least not inteldentally."

"Well, who knows?" Darren said and shrugged.

I looked out over the misty forest where the tree tops were sticking up out of the fog. We had already gotten pretty far up. Though, I already knew things were going to get tougher ahead…

"Halt!" I called to the others behind me. Then I took out the spettekaka to compare it with our current position. (I couldn't help but quietly sigh every time I saw the bite marks that lined the hollow model.)

"Have we come to the bitten part already?" Darren asked.

"No, but this road is going to end a bit further ahead", I told. "Look here."

I held up the model in front of them and pointed at a place where the path melted into the clay.

"To continue on, we have to get to this point here", I told, pointing at a path on the model that was going parallel above the one we were walking on.

We all turned our heads up and peered through the thick fog to try to get a glimpse of the other road. It was very difficult to see, not only because of the mist, but also because it didn't really stand out when you looked from seven meters below. It looked more like just a small bulge in the rock. If we hadn't had the model we'd probably never have noticed it.

"Okay! Let's climb up there then", Pinky said tagged.

"Let me handle this," I said and put the model aside to haul out a long rope. At one end I quickly tied on a quadruple metal hook.

"Back off a little, please!" I asked the other to do and waved to the left that they should take a few step back. Then I started swinging the hook in my left paw while I focused my eyes on the edge high above us.

"Um, Perry?" Darren said and walked up towards me. "You know, I could just... OUCH!"

A high clang was heard through the mallard's cry when the metal hook hit his bill, and in the corner of my eye I saw the little waterfowl disappeared over the edge.

"WAAAAAaaaaaahh..."

"Oh my!" Pinky exclaimed terrified and we all four immediately turned our heads around and saw the duck falling down towards the woods. He turned around in the air and hastily started flapping his wings.

I let out a sigh in relief when I watched him unharmed fly back up towards us, with a quite grumpy grin on his bill though.

"Ah, he's fine. He can fly", Peter said and waved nonchalant.

The wild drake came up and landed among us without saying a word.

"I'm very sorry, but I _did_ tell you to stay away", I said.

Darren sighed.

"Yeahyeah, whatever. Let's just get back to work", he said annoyed.

"Fine!" I said and started swinging the hook again. I gazed up towards the edge of the cliff, and then threw the hook.

It came a little too high and hit the rock wall and bounced down on the other road. I carefully pulled the rope and hoped that the hook would find a place to get attached to. After a while, I felt something holding against. I pulled harder with all my power to make sure it really was stuck.

"There!" I said and stepped aside to make room for the others. "Who wants to go first?"

"I'll climb filst", Peter said (Why am I not surprised?) and immediately worked his way through towards the rope end and began tugging it.

"Yes, if it holds for you, we will know for sure that it will hold for the rest of us", Terry said.

Peter frowned a bit suspicious at the turtle as if he wondered if his words had been some kind of hint of an insult. Terry's serious and oblivious expression seemed to make the panda lower his guard.

"Yeah… Well, see you soon!" Peter said and started pulling himself up.

We all followed him intently with our eyes and got ready to act in case he would fall again, like with the tree. He managed to get the whole way up without any trouble though. Then Terry began climbing.

Darren sighed bored by my side while waiting for the turtle to get up.

"You do realize that I simply just could've _flown_ up and tied the rope?" he suddenly pointed out.

...

That had totally slipped my mind.

"Um… yeah… maybe, but… it's not like we always are going to have a flying guy on the team so it's better to already have practiced on using other methods", I made a pitiful attempt to defend myself.

"Yeah maybe", Darren sighed and shrugged.

I let Pinky get up first before I started climbing. Darren stayed behind below for a while until I was almost up, then he flew passed me. He managed to land on the road just a mare second before I grabbed the edge, which I couldn't resist but to, despite the unfair conditions, find a little bit annoying.

We continued our journey by following the new path. The higher we got the more difficult it became to see the forest below. We had gotten to the level where our eyes couldn't penetrate through the massive fog anymore. Everything was completely white below and it was impossible to even estimate how high up we were. Not even the model could help us any longer since we had passed the bitten part. (Sigh!)

"Uh-oh!" Terry said suddenly and stopped.

"Can you, please, _stop_ saying 'uh-oh' all the time?" Peter asked irritated. "It's so deplessing."

"What's wrong?" I asked the tortoise.

"Take a look at this!" he said and pointed down on the road we walked on. "Fissures, lots of them. And they are all over the place."

He pointed ahead of us in the direction we were going.

"And look at the wall", he said and pointed at the rock wall to the left. "This part here is jaggier and has a darker colour. That means blocks have come off just recently. The rock is more fragile around here, and with the water from the mist getting in through the cracks there is a big risk for rock avalanche."

I looked down at my own feet and noticed that I was standing on a fairly large crack. Cautiously, I stepped aside inwards to the rock wall.

"We have to walk very careful, and stay close to the wall", I said.

"I suggest that we tie ourselves together the four of us", Pinky said.

"Sounds good," Terry said and nodded.

I took out the rope again (you can never have too much rope with you) and tied one end around my waist. Then I handed over the rest to Pinky, who tied a piece around his before handing it to Terry.

When Peter also had tied the other end around his belly, we all leant our backs against the rock wall and slowly started walking sideways along the cracked road. I noticed that gravels sometimes came off when I moved my hand over the wall to easier maintain balance. Sometimes, we heard noise of pebbles rolling down the mountain far away. We had enabled our helmet shields in our agent hats just in case boulders would hit our heads.

Larger cracks appeared ahead the further we got, and one time we watched a large portion of the roadside come off and roll downwards.

"I'm usually not scared of heights, but right now I wish we were back on the ground", Pinky said quite anxious.

"You're not the only one", Darren said and looked over the edge after the gigantic falling boulder that just had been a part of the road.

"Alen't thele any safel load we can take?" Peter asked.

We _could_ have checked that if it hadn't been because _someone_ DESTROYED THE MODEL!

I bit my lower bill hard to prevent the words from leaving my beak.

"I can fly around now and check if you'd like?" Darren offered.

"That would be great. We go and find a relative safe place to take a rest at", Terry said. "It is too dangerous to continue."

"Alright, can anyone of you have his tracker turned on so that I can find my way back to you, in case I'd get lost in the fog?" the mallard asked.

"Yes, of course!" Terry said and began tinkering with his wrist communicator.

"Alright, see ya soon!"

With that said, the wild drake spread out his wings and flew away over the edge. I followed the frantically flapping bird with my eyes and watched him get swallowed up by the mist. The rest of us went back a few feet to a small cave-like inward curl in the mountain that we had passed by earlier. There, we sat down and took snack while we waited.

I managed to finish my salad sandwich with caterpillars since long without any sign from the duck.

"Ugh, whele _is_ that flying lat?" Peter wondered irritated.

Terry took a look at his wrist communicator.

"Right now, he is on the other side of the mountain", he informed.

Peter groaned loudly.

"Hey! Let's sing something!" Pinky suggested encouraging.

"But come _on!_" Peter complained negatively.

"We can play a game", I suggested.

"YEAH! That sounds fun!" Pinky cried enthusiastic. "Okay, I'm thinking of a person and you'll try to guess who. One clue, it's someone we all know."

"Man, you ale so juvenile", Peter said.

"Okay, I take the first question. Is it a male or a female?" Terry asked, without taking any notice to the panda's comment.

"You're only allowed to ask yes-or-no questions", Pinky pointed out.

"Oh, right! Well, is it a male?" Terry asked again.

"Yes", the dog revealed.

I thought for a moment about what I should ask.

"Hmm... Does he work for O.W.C.A.?"

"Yes, yes he does."

Everyone turned to Peter.

"You can count me out", he said sourly. "I don't want to play youl stupid game."

"Okay, then it is mine turn again", Terry said, not letting himself be discouraged by the grumpy bear. "Hm… Is he… a mammal?"

"Um…"

Pinky thought for a while.

"Yes he's a mammal."

"Is it PERRY?" the turtle guessed hastily and pointed at me.

Pinky laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, no it's not Perry", he finally revealed.

"Hey! Now you asked two questions!" I remarked picky in a funny way. "Then I'll also get to ask twice now. Hm, let's see… Is he an agent?"

The puppy thought for a while again.

"Well… I'm not really sure of that…", he said hesitantly. "He is not being addressed as 'Agent something' at least."

"Then that means he must be one of the other employees, hmm…", I thought loud to myself. "Is he a human by the way?"

"Yes, yes he is."

"Is he an intern?" Terry asked, obviously having a certain person in mind.

"CARL!?" I exclaimed.

"_No_, he's not an intern, and no it's not Carl", Pinky said and laughed again.

"Hmm...", Terry pondered. "He does not happen to be any of the superiors?"

"As in matter of fact, he is", Pinky revealed and smiled secretively.

Wait! Could it be...?

"And he doesn't happen to have a monobrow and a white moustache?" I asked, even though I already had an idea of who it might be.

"He does!"

"MAJOR MONOGRAM!" both Terry and I cried at the same time.

"Correct!" Pinky declared exuberant.

"YAY! Okay, now it's my turn to come up with someone!" I said enthusiastically and began racking my brain. "Hm, let's see… hmm… Oh, I can't come up with anyone!"

"Seliously, how old _ale_ you!?" Peter complained negative. "You'le acting like kids!"

Ugh, does he _have to_ care!

"Um, we are just trying to elate the atmosphere to make the time fly", said Terry calm.

"Do you leally think it's applopliate to play games when we'le located thousand feet above the glound on a place that could collapse any moment?"

Why can't he just be _quiet!?_

Terry turned on his head and looked around us.

"Um, I do not think we need to fear very much right _here_", he said.

"Well, you don't know fol sule!" the panda said snappish. "I thought you had mole in youl head than that."

"Well, at least _we_ know better than destroying important items during a test."

"I BEG YOUL PALDON!?" Peter shouted indignant.

…

I said that out loud, didn't I? Oh well!

"I _said:_ AT LEAST _WE_ KNOW BETTER THAN DESTROYING IMPORTANT ITEMS DURING A TEST!"

There! I _said_ it!

All three stared astonished at me.

Peter sighed.

"Is this about that stupid model-thing again? Hey, I alleady said I was solly!" he said frustrated. "Do I have to pay fol that fol the lest of my life, ol what?"

"Actually, I consider that!" I said sincerely and walked up to him.

I've had enough now! I just couldn't act nice anymore!

"What is youl _ploblem?_ Leally? You ale totally insane!" the annoying panda said to me.

"Well, is that surprisingly? I've had to listen to _your_ constant whining during this whole trip."

"WHAT THE...!" the bear shouted furiously. He stood up and walked up to me. "HOW _DAL_...!?"

"NO! I don't want to hear any more words coming from you!" I cried and pushed him backwards. "Ever since this test began you've done nothing but complaining! You _always_ object on things we other say and you always has to speak your opinion. You don't care about what the rest of us think 'cause, _nooo,_ _everything_ has to be done _your _way. You've done _nothing_ but causing us all trouble this whole day!"

"I HAVE NOT!"

"OH YEAH? WELL, PINKY ALMOST GOT BLOWN UP AT THE MINEFIELD BECAUSE OF YOUR THOUGHTLESSNESS!" I reminded him, without really thinking of that I was screaming, and pointed referring at the chihuahua. "DARREN AND I HAD TO RISK OUR LIVES BY THE ALLIGATOR LAKE JUST BECAUSE _YOU_ _"DON'T LIKE SWIMMING"!_"

"Uh, Perry...", Terry made an attempt to cut in, but just couldn't care any less about what he had to say.

"AND WHEN YOU FINALLY _TRY_ TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL YOU JUST END UP ENDANGERING YOURSELF AND _WE _HAVE TO RUSH IN AND RESCUE YOU!"

I was so upset that I didn't even notice the flapping sound of wing-beats coming towards us until the mallard suddenly landed, a bit stumbling, next to us.

"Hey! Guys! I've got _great _news!" he cried mesmerised. "A bit further ahead, the road is divided into two paths whereof the left one is a lot wider and stabile. It's very steep though, but it's definitely much safer, and it leads all the way up to the top. And guess what, _there _is the_ capsule!_"

Darren then noticed that no one but he seemed very excited and that the atmosphere was quite tense.

"Um, is there something going on here?" he asked and looked a bit wondering at me and Peter.

I sighed and slowly turned back to the panda.

"Peter, I don't know if anybody have told you this, but... _you_ are a selfish..."

I started untying the rope around my waist.

"... ungrateful..."

I managed to get up one half of the reef knot.

"... _whiner__!_"

Finally, I threw away the rope behind me and began stomping in the direction to where Darren had told the intersection was.

I couldn't even look at the panda anymore! I was just so sick of him that even the thought of being tied to the same rope as him disgusted me.

Darren looked unbelievably stunned, yet pretty impressed, when I passed him.

"Whoa-oh-_oh!_" he uttered amazed. "Man, you _sure_ put him in his place there..."

"Ah, shut it!" I snapped and pushed the wild drake over the edge.


	5. The Fourth Obstacle - part 2

**5. The Fourth Obstacle – part 2**

All the frustration within me made that I hardly even noticed the exhaustion in my body when I walked up the steep road. Every now and then, I glanced over my shoulder to see how the other four was doing. They walked a few feet behind me with Terry in the lead and Darren right behind him. Then there was a small gap back to Pinky and Peter, who walked next to each other. Since the road was much wider and much safer here they'd apparently decided to skip the rope as well. I didn't hear whether if they were talking or not, and frankly I couldn't care less about that.

I might have been a little hard on Peter, but I still stood by my word. I really had tried to be nice to him, I really had, but it's hard to be nice to someone who doesn't give anything in return. He hasn't done anything to even try to win my confidence. So why should I even waste my time on giving to someone who would never give anything back?

I guess it's no surprise when I tell that I was never really thrilled about having the panda on the team when our groups were divided in the beginning. I don't think anybody was, except Pinky that is. I just knew he was going to be trouble all along, and I was right.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming towards me from behind. In the corner of my eye I saw Terry panting come up next to me.

"Perry, we can not have it like this...", he said serious. Apparently he had come to try to talk me into apologizing to the panda.

"And why should _I _apologize!?" I wondered snappish. "_He_'s the one who's been acting like a jerk this whole time."

"Perry, this isn't about you", the turtle said.

"No, 'cause it's _always_ about _him_", I said sourly. "He is so egoistic and self-absorbed. Even _you_ think so."

Terry guiltily bit his lower lip a little.

"Well, Peter is not really the most collaborated person", the turtle admitted.

"Exactly!"

"He is more the kind of person that prefers to handle things his own way", he said.

"_Exactly!_"

I couldn't agree more.

"And so does you."

"Exact... Huh?"

The turtle's last words really took me by surprise.

"Do not misunderstand me, Perry", Terry said. "You are great at many things and are one of those agents that have scored highest, but, honestly, teamwork has never been your strongest subject."

I was speechless, I had never really thought of it. Sure I'd have always preferred to try to solve things on my own, but that didn't mean I did not appreciate others assistance. I just didn't want to have to depend on someone else. The last thing I wanted was that somebody gets hurt just because I can't take care of things myself.

"Well, I... I..."

"I know", the turtle cut me off calmly. "You do not like having to depend on others because you do not want anyone else to have to put themselves in danger because of you."

Am I _that _obvious?

"Perry, you are one of the most caring and protective persons I have met, and even though I appreciate it I have to admit that it sometimes really bugs me."

Even though the turtle's sounded pretty calm and friendly I did notice annoyance in his voice.

"I know you mean well, but you are underestimating the rest of us, while also putting way too much on your own shoulders at the same time. We are your teammates, not your babies. You do not have to do everything on your own. Like by the alligator lake for example, you did not have to risk your life for our sake. We were prepared on that not all of the alligators might have fallen for the decoy so we had made ourselves ready with ammunition to take them on. All _you_ did was putting yourself in unnecessary danger."

"... oh..."

I felt so stupid. I had never even considered that my helpful interventions actually could worsen things.

"You need to learn to _trust_ us, Perry", Terry continued. "The criteria for certificates of this course says, and I quote: "_The purpose of this test is to give the agents the opportunity to demonstrate skill, strength, intelligence and COOPERATION."_ The same goes for Peter. You and Peter have very different ways on working, which is kind of understanding since you are both completely different kinds of animals and have different strengths."

The turtle sighed a little.

"I knew putting you and Peter on the same team would not end up well, but right now we need the both of you if we want to complete this test. We can not have it that two in the group don't get along, it breaks the whole team. We need a strong team to make it all the way to the end. Therefore, I ask you to go over to Peter and clear things up. Not for his sake, not for my sake, but for the sake of the team."

He was right. When I started arguing with Peter, it wasn't just he who got affected. The whole team had had to pay. I can't believe how I could have been so selfish. The last thing that I wanted was that my friends would get hurt because of me, and yet that's exactly what I'd done. How could I have been be so stupid!?

No, it was time to put things right. I might have done bad things, but I would not be the kind of guy who won't make up for my mistakes.

* * *

"I nevel apologized to you about what happened at the minefield?" I heard Peter guiltily say to Pinky while I slowly went down to them. Both Terry and Darren walked a little bit behind me.

"Well, I didn't hear anything at all after that explosion", Pinky said frivolous.

"Well, anyhow, I am leally solly. I didn't mean to put you in such dangel", the bear said.

"Oh, no hay problemas!" Pinky assured and waved with his paw. "You know me. Whenever I see a flying object I go all: 'Gotta catch! Gotta catch!' Haha..."

The chihuahua turned silent when they both suddenly caught the sight of me. The happy smile in Pinky's face sank and he glanced uncertain at me. Peter looked very hesitantly.

"Um, hi Peter", I started, a bit sheepishly. "I, uh… ahrm! I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier. I'm sorry for what I said and for yelling. That wasn't very friendly of me, and I'm a platypus enough to admit it."

I could see the smile in Pinky's face slowly widened. Peter's expressionless face, however, was a little harder to tell.

"Folgiven!" he said finally and hastily nodded with his head.

"Well, that went unbelievably swell", Darren, who had stopped right to the left of me, said content.

"I would also like to apologize to you Darren, for pushing you down the mountain", I said to the wild drake.

"Um, are you referring to the time when you hit me with the hook or the time recently when you so _rudely_ pushed me for no reason?" he asked.

"Well, both I guess, but... Hey! Didn't I already apologize to you about the hook?"

"Oh yeah! Yes you did!" the mallard exclaimed, suddenly remembering. "Well, anyway, it's cool bro. I guess we're all a bit extra testy at this height because of the low oxygen level."

"Um, I would also like to say something, to all of you", Peter suddenly said, a bit sheepishly.

We all turned to the bear.

"I... uh, I folgot to thank you all for saving my life when I fell flom the tlee ealliel. Fol that, I am very glateful."

"Oh, that was nothing! Of course we'd help a friend in need", Pinky said.

"And... and I would also like to apologize if I have behaved badly during this trip", Peter continued. "I honestly was nevel awale of that. I'm solly."

Was it possible? Was it possible that I somewhere during my outburst actually managed to get through to him?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did I hear correctly?" Darren asked astonished and cupped his wing behind on of his ears. "_Peter the Panda_ just apol... OUCH!"

I didn't think it was the right time for one of Darren's sarcastic comments so I pinched the duck on the wingshoulder.

"Do you wanna go down the mountain again?" I asked, looking sternly at him.

"Uuhh... Heheh, eh, don't mind me! I-I didn't say anything important", he said, smiling nervously.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you two, and I am so happy that we're all amigos again!" Pinky beamed, slightly teary-eyed. "Everybody! GROUP HUG!"

The exuberant chihuahua rushed up between me and Peter and placed each of his front leg around our shoulders. Darren and I put our arms, a bit reluctant, around each other's shoulders and Terry did so with Darren and Peter. And then we all hugged, a little awkward maybe, but quite cozy.

"Alright, let's go and get that capsule now!" Pinky suddenly decided excited, and so we carried on.

* * *

"WOOHOO! We're here!" the little chihuahua cried happily and ran up the last bit.

"Yeah, that was about time", Peter muttered and panting stepped up to the top platform.

I was completely exhausted. The journey up the mountain certainly hadn't been a walk in the park directly. I had to sit down for a moment to catch my breath once we finally reached the top. Peter and Terry followed my example. Darren and Pinky still seemed to have some strength left, how is beyond me.

We were now so high up that we actually could see beyond the fog. The white mist beneath us lay like a gigantic cloud around the mountain and it truly was a breathtaking sight. I tried to look for the places we had visited earlier. The alligator lake with the rocky island in the middle was very noticeably, but the minefield was a little harder to find among all the spiky fir trees at distance.

Pinky jumped up on a rock that marked the mountain's highest point, and stretched out his forepaws.

"I'M THE KING OF THE WOOOOORLD!" he cried out loud.

"Alright you majesty, would your highness be so kind and let us borrow your royal paw so we can open the capsule, please?" Darren asked a bit joking and pointed at the red-and-silver box that was attached to a smaller peak behind him.

"Coming!" the chihuahua lilted and jumped down.

We all placed ourselves in a ring around the cliff with the capsule, which reached up to about my waist. Our blurry mirror-images reflected in the silver surface with the black strip cutting off in the middle.

"Okay my friends, after this one we only have one more left to complete this whole challenge", Terry expressed. "If we do our very best and work together there is a big chance that we can make this all the way."

"Yeah, we've already gotten this far, there is no way we can lose!" Pinky said tagged. "After all, we are the best!"

"Yes, we ale the _stlongest!_" Peter said and resolutely placed his wrist over the strip.

"_The_ _fastest!_" Pinky exclaimed, also placing his link over it.

"_The smartest!_" Terry said, going with the flow.

"_The BRAVEST!_" I said.

"_The_... Theee... um... Oh Perry, you stole mine!" Darren said with only his one heel lift. "Hmm... The... _The_ _creativ_...est."

And so, he placed his link on the capsule as well.


	6. The Fifth Obstacle

**6. The Fifth Obstacle**

The fifth clue consisted only of a white paper with four words written on it: 'Third from the top'.

"What does that mean?" Pinky wondered aloud.

"Hey! I think I know", Darren cried before any of us even got the chance to ponder about it.

On our way to the top of the mountain, we had encountered a number of cave entrances. Darren's assumption was that the last capsule would be in one of them, the third cave counted from the top.

Since it was the most realistic solution we had, and our only one, we decided to go for it. As you know, our 3D-model was still broken so we had to re rely on our flight scanning resource again.

The duck managed to locate the correct cave, almost unexpectedly fast, and just a few minutes later, we were all heading into the dark desolate dungeon.

The light from our flashlights danced between the rocky ceilings while we went deeper and deeper into the mountain.

"Ay caramba! My batteries are about to run out", Pinky muttered in front of me, tapping his paw on his flashlight, whose shine send out a faint pulsing orange light. "Does anyone have an extra lantern?"

"Oh! I have!" Darren told and immediately took out another flashlight and gave it to the dog. "I always carry an extra with me just in case."

"Hehe, I wonder since when", I said ironic, thinking back on my first cave trip together with the duck.

"How fal in ale we supposed to go?" Peter asked.

"Well, we did not get any directions so I guess all we can do is to keep going until something shows up", Terry said and shrugged.

"Why are you asking? You're not scared, are you?" Darren asked the panda a bit teasingly.

"_Noooo_, I am not _scaled_", Peter claimed a bit offended. "I just want to be sule that we'll be able to find oulselves out again so we won't be stuck hele folevel. Who doesn't want that?"

"Well, so far there has only been straight forward the whole time so right now we don't really have anything to worry about", Pinky said.

Suddenly, I started feeling well-familiar tiny rapid vibrations in my bill.

"Hey! Did you sense that?" I asked the others and stopped hasty.

My four teammates turned around and looked at me puzzled.

"Sensed what?" Darren asked.

Pinky started sniffing in the air as if he was trying to pick up any smell.

"I don't feel anything particular."

"No, not a smell, the electro signals. There's an electric field around here somewhere", I explained excited. Seriously? I can't believe none of them noticed it.

The gang kept looking at me wondering.

"How do you know that?" Peter asked.

"But, ugh, you just… _feel_ it", I said, starting to get a little irritated. How can they all be so ignorant?

"Feel what? What ale you talking about?" the panda asked, totally bewildered.

"Oh! Right! Platypuses can detect electromagnetic radiation!" Terry exclaimed, suddenly realizing.

"OH…! Man, how cool!" Pinky cried understanding, and sounded quite fascinated.

"Wait, what? You mean you _don't?_" I asked surprised.

"Um, no", Peter said, looking at me as if I was a complete idiot.

"Seriously? Not _anyone!?_ Not even _you?_" I asked and pointed at Darren, remembering that ducks could sense the Earth's magnetic field.

"Hey, don't look at me, pal. I have no idea of what you're talking about", he said and shrugged while holding out his wings to the sides as if gesturing he didn't understands.

Sooo… none of them feels tickles in their bills, or well, mouth for some of them, when they get close to electrical appliances!? … Well, you keep learning new things every day.

"But, wait, if there's an electric field around here…", Pinky suddenly said.

"… then that might be a clue to how we can find the last capsule!" Darren concluded realizing.

"Jeez, like nobody thought of that", Peter said sarcastic.

"Do you think you can localize it?" Terry asked me.

"No problem!" I said sure and started searching with my bill along the rock wall to the right without touching it. I felt that the receptors in the left part of my beak were reacting strongest so I went that way. The vibrations got more and more intense the further got, it was almost irritating.

"It stretches from here to here", I finally informed, holding out my arms along the wall to show how wide the field was. It was big enough for two of us to cover it sideways and it stretched all the way up to the ceiling.

"Do you believe there might be another tunnel at the other side?" Pinky asked excited.

"It is not impossible", Terry said and began looking down around himself as if he was searching for something on the floor. "Do we have anything we can throw at it? A pebble or something?"

"Oh! We can take this", I suggested and took out the broken spettekaka again.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll be needing that anymore anyway", Pinky said.

We all took a few steps back before I threw the model against the center of the field. Right when it hit, the entire field flickered during a short moment like a TV-screen with a bad image and we managed to get a small glimpse of another tunnel before the clay lump disappeared into it and "the wall" got visible again.

"It's a hologram!" Darren stated the obvious.

"Who are you? The narrator?" I asked ironic.

"Okay, let's go!" Pinky said excited and immediately walked towards the field.

"Uh, maybe we should be a little more care…", Terry tried to urge before the chihuahua disappeared right into the wall.

"… ful."

"Hey! There're lights in here!" the puppy called quite amazed from the other side.

The rest of us followed him in and reunited with the little dog. Indeed, along the both walls, two rows of small blinding lanterns, all of which were connected in series on the same cables, had been rigged. They kind of reminded me of the Christmas lights we used for decoration during the holiday. It kind of made me happy.

"This is definitely a work constructed by the agency", Terry said and started walking along the road.

I picked up the spettekaka, which during the meeting with the cave floor had gone in two pieces, before following my teammates.

"Whose wolk would it else be?" Peter asked sarcastic.

"Well, who knows? What if we've just stumbled into a secret tunnel leading into an evil lair belonging to an evil scientist?" Darren joked. "Who knows, we might even find the villain in the end of the tunnel. A long middle-aged skinny man with a hunchback, messy lusterless hair, spiderlike fingers, crazy eyes, a long pointy nose and a creepy voice that hurts your ears…"

"You've got _way_ too much imagination", Peter interrupted him.

In the end of the corridor we got to the entrance of a large dark oblong hall. No lights had been set up there so we lit our torches again and shone in, without stepping over the doorstep. A blinding shine met our eyes when our flashlights were reflected by the metallic capsule, which was placed on a pedestal at the other end of the room. I directed my lamp slowly along one of the longitudinal rock wall. By the ceiling, which was higher the tunnel's, I noticed several small black gunlike things pointing inwards.

I turned to my teammates, who all apparently also had put noticed to the technological appliances. Without saying anything, I picked up one part of the broken pieces of the 3D-model and looked checking at them. All four nodded in agreement, then I threw the model into the room.

The clump didn't even manage to hit the floor before it was completely destroyed by dozens of dazzling red laser beams. All that was remained of the model piece was dark fine-grained ash that slowly sank to the floor.

"Fire…", I said low.

Pinky sighed nervous.

"Okay guys, we've practice a lot on this kinds of things. Now it's time to prove ourselves", he said determined.

"I'll go first and then you come after when I've reached the capsule", I offered.

"Alright, we can light up the way for you", Darren said and directed his beam at the room floor. The others followed his example.

"Great! Okay, here I go!" I said and walked back a little to make myself ready.

We had gone through several exercises in school on how to get through just these kinds of tasks so I felt pretty calm. I had done very well in those classes.

To prevent any kind of sudden hesitation, I decided to directly rush right into the perilous room, before my brain got the time to start putting ideas into my mind, which could interrupt my focus.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the red rays coming at me and I heard small popping sound behind me when the beams hit the floor. I threw myself forward and made a handspring to mislead the lasers and to increase my speed at the same time. I pushed away with my front feet from the floor extra hard to get high up in the air so I would land properly enough on back paws to do another volt.

Through the fast tumbling sight before my eyes, I noticed how I got closer and closer to the capsule. I saw a red beam diagonally cut my sight from the right just a few inches in front of me and instinctively I bent myself backwards and shuffled in under it with my back feet first. The speed forward made me shuffled on end along the floor for a while. The friction slowed me down slowly until I gently bumped into the bottom of the podium with my feet.

"Whew! Finally!" I sighed relieved and slowly got up.

"_PERRY!_"

Through Pinky's terrified screams I suddenly heard the sound of a beam coming down right behind me, and felt how the left edge of my tail got subjected to scalding hot heat. I immediately dived over the capsule and hid myself behind on the other side of the podium.

I had thought that the lasers would have stop firing once I had reached the capsule, but apparently I had been wrong.

Glancing up, I saw one of the red laser beams get reflected by the capsules silvery surface and went up and hit the ceiling. I saw another beam coming right at me from the left and immediately rolled over to the side to avoid it. I quickly went back up on my feet to keep avoid them more easily.

Apparently, these lasers were incredibly well developed. It wouldn't be enough for us to just avoid them, we have to destroy them.

I got an idea.

"EVERYBODY! MIRRORS!" I shouted to my teammates and picked up my own round pocket mirror and held it in front of one of the firing lasers. The red beam got reflected back to its sender and destroyed it.

I directed the mirror against another laser and did the same thing with that. By the entrance, I saw my teammates rush into the room to help. Terry was smart enough to angle his pocket mirror in a way so that he could make use of the incoming laser to knock out the other laser guns next to it. Darren flew, with his flashlight in his beak, by the same height as the lasers and tricked them to shoot at each other from the opposite side.

Eventually, all shooting stopped.

"There! I think we got them all now", Terry said, looking up at the broken lasers.

We all gathered by the capsule.

"Whew! That was close", Peter sighed.

"No, _that_ was close", Darren said and affrightedly pointed down behind me.

I had been too busy taking care of the lasers to put much emphasis on the burning feeling in my left tail tip. I lifted my tail up and grabbed it with my forepaws to inspect the red-swollen area that was clearly distinguished from the orange waffle squares.

"Oh my! Perry, are you alright!" Pinky asked appalled.

"Don't worry. The beam didn't cut through, it just scorched the skin a little by the edge", I assured and blew on the irritated stinging area.

Terry came up to take a closer look.

"Hm, no blisters… Then it is just first degree burn", he noted. "Nothing life-threatening."

I blew hard on the swelling, which stinging refused to give in. As soon as I thought that the pain was calming down it immediately flared up again.

"Thanks for the information", I said sarcastic and kept blowing.

"I swear, I am _defiantly_ going to report this test! This is _not_ okay!" Darren cried scandalized. "Humans think they can do anything to us just because we're "just animals". No, I am not going to take this any longer. It's time for a revolt!"

"Ah, let's just open the capsule now so we can get the heck out of hele", Peter suggested a bit tired.

"Yeah, let's do that", I agreed and gently let go of my tail back down to the floor. The cold rock surface felt comfortable and cool down the underside of the swollen area. I tried to roll up my tail underneath to let the upper side also touch the floor to make the cold even out a little, which was quite difficult since I wasn't used to move those muscles in that way.

We went and placed ourselves in a circle around the small podium with the capsule.

"Oh, I can't believe this is finally over!" Pinky said euphoric.

"Yeah, if we hurry there's a chance that we can beat Kitty and the others", Darren reminded.

"Yeah, so what ale we waiting fol?" Peter said enthusiastic. "Let's do this!"

"YES!"

We placed our wrist bands, or ankle band, over the magnetic strip and heard the sound of the familiar click.

Suddenly, a loud roar was heard from the other side of the room followed by a big BOOM that made us all jerk. We turned around and directed our flashlight at the entrance. It had been blocked by a big heavy gray metal-door. We were trapped.

"It seems like we spoke a little too soon", Terry uttered.

"Oh, man! Does this _never_ end?" Darren complained tired.

"Maybe there's a clue inside the capsule on how to get out", Pinky suggested.

Peter opened the canister and took out the paper roll in it.

"The only thing in hele is the map to the lendezvous-point", he informed after he'd rolled up the roll.

"Oh darn!" Darren uttered discouraged.

"Ah, come on, we've been in worse situation than this before, right?" I tried to encourage them.

For some reason everyone seemed quite hesitantly.

"Um… honestly, I'm not very sure of that", Darren admitted. "I guess it depends a little on how you look at it."

"Well, it is better if we try to come up with an escape plan already, instead of just standing here and wait for the oxygen to run out", Terry opined.

"Oh thanks, you just _had_ to lemind me of that as well", Peter said worriedly.

Myself, I was rather quite calm in comparison to my teammates. Breaking out of traps had, after all, been one of the exercises at the academy that I'd been best at. We'd probably be out of here in no time.

We went over to the blocked entrance and started inspecting the large metal gate. Terry tapped on it a little with his knuckle.

"It seems to be made out of very thick material", he stated. "We will not be able to cut it through with our wrist lasers."

I looked thoughtfully up at the edge of the ceiling on the wall to the left.

"What about those?" I asked and pointed at one of the defective lasers.

"But, ugh, we had to destloy them, lemebel?" Peter pointed out weary.

"We can try to fix one of them", I suggested. "Some might still have functional part that we can use to replace the broken part in one of the others."

"That's actually not a bad idea", Darren admitted somewhat impressed.

Terry pensively scratched his chin.

"Hm… well, they _are_ definitely more powerful than our wrist lasers… Okay, let us go for it!"

"Great! There, I told you we'd be out of here in no time", I said proud.

Peter, who stood closest to me, frowned and looked puzzled at me.

"I don't lemebel you saying that", he remarked confused.

"I didn't? Oh! Maybe I just _thought_… You know, nevermind!"

"We better start hurry already!" Pinky suddenly said stressed, and quite anxious, and looked down at his wrist communicator. "The oxygen level is already down at almost _TWENTY PERCENT!_"

"Um, Pinky, that is normal. The Earth's atmosphere consists of seventy-eight percent nitrogen", Terry reminded him calmly.

Pinky looked a bit dumb at him.

"Oh… eh… heh! I… I knew that actually", he muttered embarrassed.

"Alright, I fly up and take them down", Darren offered and flew up and landed right on that specific laser I had pointed at.

The duck directed the flashlight on the laser's tache to the wall, which consisted of a metal plate. Then he took out a screwdriver and began to loosen the screw in the metal plate's upper left corner.

"That's going to take folevel", Peter complained.

"Then I guess we have to help out", I said and hauled out the rope again.

I made a loop and tied the one end into a lasso. Then I swung it up around another laser. I pulled the rope so the loop got tightened.

"Let me do that", Peter asked and gently grasped the rope.

I took a few steps back and watched the panda take a more firm grip with his both front paws before pulling hard.

A slight squeak was heard when the tache moved a little, though not enough to make it lose completely.

"We pull together", I said and went back and grabbed the rope.

Peter looked at me and nodded.

"Okay, on thlee. One...", Peter began counting.

"... Two..."

I squeezed the rope tighter.

"_THREE!_"

We both pulled hard together.

A higher squeak was heard and one of the bolts flew off.

"Again!" I said. "One. Two."

"_THREE!_"

This time, the whole rack came off and fell to the floor.

"I got it! I got it!" Pinky cried eagerly and jumped out in front of us and caught the broken contraption in his mouth.

"Nice going guys!" Darren called from the other side of the room. "Here comes another one."

The mallard flew down, holding the other laser in his feet, and placed it on the floor in the middle. Pinky put down the other beside it.

"Okay, let us take a look here", Terry said and picked up the laser that looked least damaged, the one Darren had taken down. I picked up the other one and carefully peeled off one of the half burnt metal cover plates. Darren shone with his flashlight into my laser's interior, which mostly consisted of a bunch of colorful cables. Terry and I carefully began digging inside the dangerous devices.

"This one looks relative fine, but it needs a new circuit card and a thermo regulator", the turtle informed.

"I've got a circuit card here, but no regulator", I told and began to remove the wires that were connected to the detachable green PCB.

"Then we have to take down mole of them", Peter said and removed the rope that was still tied around the laser I was holding.

We had to take down three more before we finally found everything we needed to fix our laser. While we were at it, we also took the opportunity to do some changes so the device wouldn't detect moving objects and accidently shoot anyone of us. We also connected so that the beam would shoot continuously rather than gradually, like it had done before.

"There! Now, all we have to do is to fire it off against the door and then we're out", I said satisfied and lifted up the patched device, which was about as big as Darren's body and probably weighed a few pounds. I leaned it towards my hip, with the pointer facing the metal gate, while I, a little fumbling, tried to connect the two last cables to each other that would make the thing fire.

"Do you want any help?" Pinky offered.

"No, I'm okay", I assured and finally managed to get the two reddish copper ends to touch each other. A thick red beam shot away from the pointer and almost made me lose my balance due to the backward going force. I quickly twisted the wires to each other and then I took a firmer hold of the machine.

I made sure that it was aiming for exactly the same point in the gate the whole time.

"Um, it doesn't seem to do any damage", Pinky pointed out a bit anxious.

"Of course it does, see", I said calm and turned the beam a little to the side to show off the dark hole in the door. Or, was that just the metal that had blackened somewhat…?

I turned back the ray to the specific point again, leaving another smaller blackened mark next to it.

I stared focused on the point for a long time. The bright light from the beam made a long purplish blinding mark on my retina that lit up every time I blinked.

I felt the temperature in the room rose due to the laser heating up the metal. I puffed a little and wiped the sweat from my forehead just below the hat width, carefully without moving the device.

"PERRY, YOU HAVE TO STOP!" Terry exclaimed suddenly.

"But we're almost through", I remarked.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT, AND YOU NEVER WILL!" Terry exclaimed. (Since when did Terry start to use contractions?) "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE TO THE HEAT BEFORE THAT BEAM HAS REACHED THROUGH!"

The turtle suddenly grabbed my shoulder hard. I turned my head at him wonderingly.

"AND THE PERSON THAT'S MOST LIKELY GOING TO GO FIRST WILL BE _ME!_" he said.

I stared straight into the turtle's wide eyes. I don't think I've ever seen my scaly friend being so scared as now.

What have I done? How could I've been so reckless!?

Within less than a second, I had already put the laser on the cave floor and feverishly tried to tore the two wires apart to turn the machine off, but to my horror, it was as if the two copper wires had been welded to each other. Desperate, I instead began to look around for something to smash the device with. The closest thing I found at hand was the flashlight Darren was holding, and I immediately snatched it away from the wild drake's thin wing feathers. I raised the black shining plastic rod over my head and wildly smashed the laser with all my power.

Both lights went out.


End file.
